When Tomorrow Comes
by blueacidity
Summary: The Flash knows something, but he isn't telling Bruce, or Dick, about what happened to Wally. Rated M because I'm not sure how in-depth I'll go. Birdflash story, will contain M/M action so if you don't like it, don't read it. This is my first story, so I hope you guys like it!
1. 11:50 PM

Dick reached out his hand to feel the bouncing of the rain on his palms. Gotham was unnaturally inactive tonight, although the city still reeked of crime and rape and murder. He checked the time. 11:00 PM. Wally would be at the manor soon, and he wasn't going to risk being late. The speedster would _never_ let that down. Dick looked up at the street sign.

31st Street.

Dick thought back over the memo. He was following up a lead on a drug lord, a Mr. Caselle, a lawyer who they say was fat with corruption and boiling over with pride. His house was not too far from the street sign, and 31st Street itself wasn't too far from the manor - a good five to ten minutes of solid running and jumping across rooftops.

11:01

Dick sprinted to the supposed house and quietly, stealthily, made his way to the uppermost floor. The window wasn't hard to open, even for someone who wasn't trained by the bat, and Dick wondered if a drug lord would have so little security. He wondered why _anyone_ in Gotham would have so little security.

The inside of the floor was...different, to put it nicely. The carpet was soft and purple, and to the end of the room was an unmade single bed with gold designs engraved into it. There was a bookshelf in the shape of the letter "L" (rather impractical, Dick thought), and a single fluorescent light in the roof with no visible switch anywhere. Across the carpet were clothes strewn in all directions, and dotted along the walls were photographs that told a story that made no sense to Dick. There was a dressing table opposite the bed, with several creams lined unevenly across the top. A revolver rested patiently at the end.

11:10

Crap. Wally was going to be at the manor soon. Dick hurriedly rummaged through the drawers of the dressing table, but found only some clothes, some underwear, a _Playboy_ magazine and some ammunition. Nothing that would help him find out if this really _was_ Caselle's house. He closed the drawers of the table swiftly, just in time to hear a thud from downstairs - the sound of a door closing - and just in time to spy a small journal that was cleverly concealed behind the bottles of lotion. He swiped it without disturbing the bottles, and then somersaulted out the window. The fluorescent light turned on, and the bright light illuminated the bottom of the street. From the roof, Dick examined the journal. There was a lock on the leather cover, but Dick could break that back at the manor.

The manor. Crap.

11:15

Wally was probably already there. Dick sprinted across the rooftops, hardly caring about if he was seen or not, but he knew that nobody would be watching this time of night. Everyone would be to afraid to, in case they saw the bat himself. By the time he reached his room at the manor, Dick was completely out of breath.

"Evening jog, Master Richard?"

"Hilarious, Alfred."

"Did you find anything about Caselle?"

"A journal, I think. But I have to get ready...is Wally here?"

"I'm afraid not, Master Richard."

Dick checked his watch. 11:25. Wally was meant to be here at 11:20, and he wouldn't skip their little night sessions together. "Where is he?"

"And how would I know that?"

"I wasn't talking about Wally."

Alfred nodded with a newfound understanding. "_He_ is in the batcave, moping as usual."

"Thanks, Alfred."

Dick ran off. Where could Wally be? They were going to head out to the park to have some harmless...fun, and Wally was never one to miss out on that.

He walked into the light of the batcave and sighed. The Flash was there, but that wasn't the speedster he was hoping to see.

"Hey, Dick! How's it going?"

"Fine, thanks. Hey, have you seen Wally?"

Dick saw the Flash's face fall. "I was hoping to ask you the same thing."

"He hasn't been seen in the last 15 hours." Batman's deep voice intercepted. Dick's heart rate went up.

"Where was he seen last?"

"We don't know."

"You're the friggin _Batman_! How could you not know!" Dick shouted.

"Because all trace of his existence has been deleted!" Bruce growled back.

The Flash sat down. "I'm sorry, kid. I thought you might have known, given how...close, you two are."

Batman stopped for a moment, then continued searching on the computer.

"Do you have any idea who could have kidnapped him?" Dick asked the Flash.

In that instant, Dick saw it in his eyes. The red of his suit helped to disguise it a bit, but to someone like Dick, who could read emotions like a book, he saw it clearly. The Flash _knew_ who it was, definitely.

"I can't say I know, kid."

Dick's heart sank. Why would the Flash keep any information from the Bat? From him? Unless Dick was seeing what he wanted to see, not what was actually there. Dick didn't know. His head was a complete mess. When did this night go so wrong?

The three of them sat in silence, listening to the faint sound of the computer humming.

11:50

"Wals," Dick mumbled under his breath. "Where the hell are you?"


	2. Wally Wakes

**Hey, firstly, sorry! I've been super busy with exams and schoolwork and stuff, so it took so long for me to actually get back to writing! Also, sorry that this one is a bit short - I don't want to reveal too much about what I have planned for this arc :P **

**I also need an opinion - I was debating ****_creating_**** my own villain for this story (and don't worry, I will try to make them as un-cliched as possible!), but I don't know whether I should or not...thoughts? Please let me know :D **

**That's all I have to say, I think. Enjoy (hopefully).**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters so far (or whatever you're meant to say).**

**-blueacidity**

* * *

Gotham City

11:54 PM

His mother's bloodless hands held themselves out; her skin was nothing more than a sheet of paper that stretched across her thin frame. Dick reached out to hold her, to hug her, and then-

A crack of thunder.

Dick woke up with a start, breathing heavily. He looked to his bedside table and the photo of him with his parents, and then turned the frame upside down. He slipped himself out of his bed and quickly threw on a pair of sweatpants. The night was cold, he had to admit, but it still wasn't cold enough for a shirt. Besides, he still had to, as Bruce put it, "learn to live in the worst conditions".

As if Gotham wasn't the worst already.

He had left the room and was half-way down the stairs when he bumped into Alfred.

"Slept well, Master Richard?"

"Yeah, thanks Alfred."

"If you're looking for Master Wayne, he is out searching for Master West."

That gave Dick a bit of confidence.

"Oh, and, the Flash is in the Batcave, in case you head down there."

Dick hummed softly to himself. "Right."

"Forgive me for intruding Master Dick, but you seem rather distant. Frighteningly close to Master Wayne's level. Is something the matter?"

"It's just Wally, Alfred, that's all."

"Something tells me that isn't quite the full story, Master Richard."

"I don't know - it's just - he's a good friend, but..."

"You think you'll miss him more than you miss your parents if he were to die?"

"How did you..?"

"Do you think, with all this age of mine, that I haven't lived at all, Master Richard?" Alfred winked and continued up the stairs, "I shall be in the kitchen making myself a camomile tea if you should need me, Master Richard."

Dick smiled.

In the Batcave, the Flash tucked away a cell phone and sighed. "I'm sorry, Wally."

The voice of the computer echoed loudly across the cave, and the bats at the furthest and darkest corner screeched.

_"Deleting league files: Wally West, a.k.a. Kid Flash. Authorisation Code overridden."_

Elsewhere

11:54 PM

White. The entire room was just - white. There were a few photo frames on the wall opposite to him, and if he squinted his eyes he could make out images of the Joker, Penguin, Two-Face, Harley Quinn, Killer Croc...all super criminals. All apparently idols to whomever captured him. Idols...or colleagues. All from Gotham.

It made sense, since the last thing that Wally could remember was approaching Wayne Manor early. God, Dick was going to _kill_ him. They hadn't spoken to each other for a very long while, and quite frankly it made Wally anxious. He had occasional nightmares where Dick would leave him, their friendship would be over, and...Wally would always wake up crying. Which he hated, because what male teenage superhero _cried_?

Wally scanned the room.

There weren't any doors, or windows, just this whiteness. It didn't make sense, because light would have to come in from _somewhere_ for him to be seeing anything - but he couldn't make out any entrances or exits, nor any internal light source.

He squinted.

If he could remember anything about how he got here - a colour, a costume, a _laugh_ even - he would know what he was up against. But all he could remember was being hit when he was running, which meant that whomever captured him was out to capture him specifically and knew about his feelings for Dick. Did that mean they knew that Dick was...

He sighed. He was so bloody _tired_.

A thought came to him. If the person who captured him was out to get him alone, then they must have technology that could operate at almost his speed, or have fast enough reflexes, or impeccably good timing...or they could even be -

A speedster.

Wally groaned, and realising that all this thinking was taking its toll on him, quickly fell asleep.


	3. A Secret Blossoms

Dick hurriedly got into his Robin outfit. This week had been a busy one; there had been yet another escape from Arkham Asylum shortly before a mass outbreak of criminals. So far, him and Bruce had managed to round-up the Joker and Harley, Mister Freeze, The Riddler, Zsaz and Scarecrow, which covered most of the dangerous criminals that had escaped. Bruce had told him to sleep in his Robin gear, just in case, but Dick wasn't sleeping much lately.

Not whilst Wally was still missing.

Robin's communicator buzzed to life.

"Dick, get to Gotham Central Park as soon as you can. It's Ivy."

"I'm on my way," Dick replied, sprinting out of his room and towards the batcave.

"And make sure you bring a gas mask, I think that Ivy has a new type of hypnotic -"

The radio buzzed off.

Dick cursed as he leapt on the R-Cycle and sped out of the cave.

Elsewhere

"Wakey-wakey," a low, chilling voice sang.

Wally woke.

"Well, would you look at that. He can listen."

Wally groaned, and his eyes took a bit longer than usual to focus. He was still in the white room and he could still see the photographs of the Gotham criminals, but there was now a large black speaker installed in the centre of the ceiling that stood out clearly. He pulled at the chains that had him pinned against the wall and they rattled harshly, as if they were mocking him for being captured for so long. "Who are you?"

"No, that's not how things work around here. What's that cliché? Oh, yes, that's it - _I _ask the questions."

Wally snarled, and tried to break free of the chains once again.

"I don't think that would be much help. I had those chains specifically designed to hold speedsters like you."

"When I get out of here, I am going to-"

"To what, Kid Flash? Hm? You don't even know who I am!"

The voice cackled loudly, darkly, and the speaker cried with feedback. "Very well though, I suppose it is rude of me to not introduce myself. You may call me the host, the Anchorman."

"Yeah, with the state that I'm in, it's clear that you are _such_ a great host."

The Anchorman chuckled. "I can see why Robin is so..._interested_ in you, Kid Flash. Which leads me to ask my first question: Why on Earth were you headed to Wayne Manor?"

"Why on Earth do you want to know?"

Something poked out from the wall behind Wally and suddenly, Wally felt a searing pain course through his body. He screamed.

"Take 2. Why were you headed to Wayne Manor?"

"Robin and I meet up there, sometimes...I don't think Bruce Wayne knows about our visits, and it's a lot more private than anywhere else in Gotham...or so we thought."

"That's the spirit," Anchorman's dark voice chimed. "Carrying on with the take, Scene 1 Take 3: Question 2. Kid Flash, do you think you'll be missed?"

Anchorman cackled again, waiting for Wally's response. Wally hung his head.

"I don't know."

"Well now, that's not anything interesting," Anchorman sighed and mumbled, "well, at least you're getting the hang of this talk show."

Gotham Central Park

The trees at Gotham Central Park had been uprooted, no doubt by Poison Ivy, and had moved to form a giant dome in the centre of the park itself. Robin got off the R-Cycle and placed on his gas mask, just to be safe.

"Batman, come in."

No response.

"Batman, come in!"

Static.

"Crap."

Robin extended his staff and ran towards the dome. He didn't want to have to face off against Batman, because he knew that in their training sessions Bruce held himself back - even though he said he didn't - and still managed to end up beating him. As he neared the dome the plants seemed to open up, inviting him in to whatever death trap Ivy had laid out in there. He slowed his pace and cautiously backed into the dome, slowly turning so that he could keep an eye on the plants that surrounded him. From somewhere in the centre of the dome, Robin heard Poison Ivy talk in a childish, bribing manner to someone. One of her plants? Bruce? Somebody else that he hadn't thought of? Behind him, a willow shook. Dick walked even slower, retreating into the shadows that the plants created.

"Batman, darling, my babies tell me that your sidekick is here. Go and _help_ him, would you? For Ivy?" She cooed.

Dick stopped, listened.

The plants around him whistled softly.

He noticed his own, steady breath.

Ivy started humming a strange tune that Dick didn't realise.

Somewhere else in Gotham, something exploded.

Dick didn't move and tried to blend in with the plants as best he could.

The plants whistled.

He noticed his blinking.

Once.

Twice.

And then, amidst the horrific serenity, he heard it: The sound of a batarang slicing the air. Dick whirled around, just in time to see the batarang and deflect it with a quick swipe of his staff. He walked backwards, slowly.

A second batarang, louder, narrowly missed him and Robin turned to see the unmistakable cowl of the Bat no more than a hundred metres away.

_How on Earth did Bruce miss a shot from that close?_

Batman ran towards him and lunged, and Dick leapt away swiftly, throwing a birdarang in the process. He rolled on the plant littered floor and saw Ivy perched on a giant tree. Batman cried out as he moved, an unearthly, zombie-like yell that gave Dick enough time to refocus and whip out his grapple line. He fired, and the rope circled around the Bat once, twice, and on the third time it pulled taut.

_I guess_, thought Dick, _that Ivy's pollen has made Bruce lose him game - completely._

He turned to face Ivy. "Let him go of your twisted mind control and I promise I won't hurt you or your plants as severely."

"A threat I'd expect Batman to say. You really are turning into quite the little Bat, aren't you?"

"And you're becoming less villainous. No ransom? No excessive damage of Gotham for your little babies? All this seems kind of pointless, don't you think?" Robin mocked.

An unearthly yell, and Robin turned, jumped, and delivered a swift kick to the side of Batman's head, causing Bruce to fall face first into the ground. Batman groaned, and struggled against Robin's grapple line as he tried to grasp a concept of the situation. Ivy tutted.

"My my, that's no good now, is it?" She went to raise a hand.

"Touch him again and I will end you." Robin growled.

"That was rather dark for the boy wonder," Ivy joked.

"I'm not exactly in the happiest of moods."

"Oh, of course!" She exclaimed. "It's about Kid Flash, isn't it?"

Batman sliced through Robin's grapple line and stood up, placing on a gas mask. Dick took a step back. "H-How did you..?"

Ivy laughed and clapped her hands. "We all know."

"Who's we?" Batman snarled.

"All of us involved with the Arkham breakout."

"What do you know about Kid Flash?" Robin interrupted.

"More than you, obviously," Ivy muttered. "I know that all of his records have been wiped, all trace of his being has been removed. I know that you've probably never met his captor. He's a handsome bloke. Tall, black hair - not to mention _mysterious_."

Batman squinted his eyes and grabbed Dick protectively. "Why are you telling us all of this?"

"That jerk is putting together a team of criminals - exclusively Gotham ones - to go up against you, Batman. I applied, since I wasn't _invited_, but oh no, nobody wants Poison Ivy and her darlings to be on their team!"

"We're taking you back to Arkham."

Ivy lowered herself from the top of the tree down to the ground. She glanced around nervously. "That's fine. He's probably heard anyway, and Arkham's my safest bet. Quick, knock me out."

"With pleasure," Batman growled, and with a quick flick of his wrist, sprayed Ivy with a concentrated dose of sleeping gas. She collapsed into his arms as he turned to talk to Robin. "Get back to the cave and gather a list of everybody that has been admitted into Arkham Asylum in the past year. I'm betting our hero-theif is among them."

Dick nodded.

Finally, there was hope. He collapsed and tucked away his staff and ran out of the plant dome, soon followed by Batman.

And unbeknownst to them, the Flash left the dome in a red-and-yellow blur as well.

* * *

**Again, to anyone who's reading, I'm sorry that these are taking so long to write!**

**I don't own any of the characters in this story (except for the Anchorman), just as a quick disclaimer.**

**Also, I don't think this section was as good as it could have been but I just wanted to get the next part out there for anyone reading so I apologise (if you think it's necessary)!**

**-blueacidity**


	4. Connections

_"Rob,"_  
_The voice echoed as Dick held the photo of him and Wally at the Gotham amusement mile._  
_"Yeah?"_  
_"Ever wanted to go to the moon?"_  
_"Not really something I've thought about, to be honest..."_  
_Dick ate a few more mouthfuls of cotton candy as he and Wally walked alone._  
_"I would. I mean, look at it! It is so much nicer to look at here than in Central. Must be the Gotham touch."_  
_Dick blushed, and ate another mouthful. Wally was never usually this sentimental, this toned down, but he liked it. It was their special bond, he liked to think, that Wally could be serious if he felt like it (and not get criticized) and he could live without having to think about the Bat._  
_Dick pointed to his left. "We could go into the house of mirrors, if you want."_  
_"Nah, I was in one last week."_  
_"You were going up against Mirror Master. It doesn't count."_  
_"Someone's been checking up on me then," Wally winked, "it's understandable. There isn't enough Kid Flash to go around."_  
_"Shut up, idiot."_  
_Wally laughed, and placed his arm around Dick's shoulders. He pointed over to the bumper cars. "How about them?"_  
_"Too obvious, the Amusement Miles's closed, remember?" Dick blushed a little and turned his head away, just slightly. "And what's with the arm around the shoulder?"_  
_"You're not homophobic are you?" Wally asked, incredulous._  
_"N-not really! Well, maybe a bit. I don't know. I don't think so." Dick rushed to reply._  
_Real smooth, Grayson, Dick thought to himself. But He couldn't let Wally find out about how he felt when they were together, when they were alone. That would definitely make things too weird between them._  
_"How about the ferris wheel?" Dick asked quickly, hoping to change the subject._  
_"Sure, sounds like fun. And way less obvious than bumper cars, because who can see an operating ferris wheel from a distance anyway?"_  
_Dick elbowed him in the ribs. "Jerk," he smiled._  
_"I'm kidding," Wally chuckled. "I'd love to go on the ferris wheel with you."_  
_Dick raised an eyebrow, and subtly leaned into Wally a bit more._  
_"A-as a friend, of course," Wally stammered, beginning to blush._  
_Dick smiled, not because of what Wally had said, but by the fact that he had noticed that Wally had leaned into him a bit more, too._

"Master Richard?"  
Dick flinched in shock and placed down the photo, the memory dissipating just as soon as it has started.  
"Forgive me for intruding, but Master Bruce requires your presence in the Batcave immediately. I believe it has something to do with your missing...friend."  
Dick nodded.

The batcave was eerily quiet as Dick entered, straightening his blue collared shirt.  
"I was going through the list of all Arkham inmates, and I found something that might interest you."  
"Yeah?"  
"All of the villains that we rounded up this week that were involved with the Arkham breakout have been there for a while. But there was one escapee who wasn't part of the breakout - Clayface. He's been running free for months."  
"But...it's Clayface! How could he not have made an attempt at something? A robbery, a heist, a kidnapping...how could he have gone underground?"  
"It doesn't make sense. My guess is that whomever Ivy was afraid of is keeping Basil Karlow in check."  
"But what does this have to do with Wally?"  
Bruce walked over to a dimly lit microscope and removed the petri dish that he was examining. He walked back over to Dick and held it out. "This is a sample that J'onn picked up when him, Superman and Flash were going up against Bizarro."  
"A sample of what?"  
"According to both J'onn and Superman, Bizarro had managed to throw Flash into a bus stop and then punched him into a building. This is a sample of the Flash's uniform."  
"So? What's wrong with that?" Dick interrupted.  
Bruce glared at him.  
"Sorry...carry on," Dick said sheepishly, blushing a little as he hung his head in embarrassment.  
"This is the Flash's uniform, at least it appears to be on the outside, but J'onn said that the Flash wasn't acting like himself during the fight and so wanted me to examine this piece of uniform that tore off in the fight. It's made up of the same chemical composition as...Clayface."  
"I thought Flash looked like he knew something when this whole situation started off," Dick mused.  
"Why didn't you say anything?"  
"I wasn't sure if I was just seeing what I wanted to see, you know...I wasn't sure if my feelings for Wally were getting in the way of my judgement."  
"Feelings for Wally?" Bruce asked in a lower, more suspicious tone.  
"Like you don't know."  
"Watch that tone."  
"Whatever," Dick folded his arms. "So how can you prove that the Flash is actually Clayface?"  
"We know that all of Kid Flash's records have been wiped. Birth certificates, school records, and so on. But his League files have been wiped as well, and they operate on a different network to everything else; you need to be inside the watchtower or in the batcave to access them."  
"So someone with League access managed to delete Wally's files...makes sense that the only person with motive to do that is Clayface. But why?"  
"That's what I can't figure out. What does Karlow have against Kid Flash?"  
"Nothing that I would know of."  
"Exactly. My guess is that whomever planned the Arkham breakout has been using Clayface as a henchman. Risky, but seemingly effective, which means that Clayface has an ulterior motive..."  
"It also probably means that whoever has Wally probably has the Flash too - the real one - right?"  
Bruce nodded. "I'm running a search for the Flash's communicator. It's been running for a while now, so either his communicator's been destroyed or the person holding him captive has managed to mask his location exceedingly well."  
Dick sighed.  
"We'll find them." Bruce said in a flat tone. "Until then, you are not to trust anything the Flash - sorry, _Clayface_ - says. You see him whilst you're on patrol, you let me know immediately. And don't tell the league, I've got a plan for that."  
"Yeah, sure..." Dick muttered half-heatedly, before falling into his memories.

The Watchtower

2 Days Later, 7:50 PM

"Wally's been missing for a while now," Batman said in a gruff voice. "But at the moment, we have more pressing matters at hand."

"Such as?" Superman piped up, raising an eyebrow.

"I need to test a device on the Flash. There's a new speedster villain in Gotham, and I'd like to stop him before Gotham's extensive criminal underworld reaches him."

"Speaking of which," Diana began, "where is he?"

"I've called him in, he'll be here shortly."

"Thankyou, J'onn," Batman replied. In a sudden blur, the Flash was standing in front of the large table where the other main members sat. A gust of wind followed soon after.

"I have to say, I love being called in on my day off," he jested.

"We're superheroes, we don't get days off." Hal Jordan retorted flatly.

"Flash, I need to test out a device on you. There's a new speedster in Gotham, and I know he cannot run faster than you. If this device can stop you, I know it can stop him."

Batman walked to the edge of the room and pulled down a large canvas cloth, revealing to the league a huge, cylindrical tube. Valves protruded from the sterile blue edges, and thick black cables extended from the top to connect it to the Watchtower's power source. With a loud hiss, a panel on the front of the cyclinder moved outward and away from the device itself, beckoning to the league to head inside and discover what contraption Batman had developed this time.

"Uh, no offense, Bats," Flash's eyes glimmered in awe, "but I don't think that's going to fit in your utility belt."

"Just get inside."

"Can do," Flash replied with a smirk and a wink at Diana. He strolled up to the cylinder, still somewhat in shock, and headed inside.

In an instant, the panel door slammed shut and the cylinder made a horrendous whirring noise. The rest of the league clapped their ears - Hal had constructed a pair of earmuffs with his power ring, Batman just stood there, and Superman seemed to be in more pain than the rest of them, most likely due to his super hearing.

With a final, thunderous crack, the cylinder was filled with an obscuring gas, and the team could make out even above the sound of the machine the Flash's desperate punches on the cylinder to escape.

Then the sound stopped, and the team realised how quiet and isolated the Watchtower really was.

The gas cleared.

Diana gasped and cupped her hand over her mouth. "What have you done?!"

"Are you mental?" Hal had taken an offensive stance, and looked as if he were about to attack Batman himself.

Superman rushed to the cylinder, and attempted to rip it open.

"NOBODY TOUCH IT!" Batman yelled.

Superman backed away. "Then you better have a damn good explanation for why you just froze the Flash."

"Because that's Clayface, not the Flash. He deleted the league files on Wally. He's been the reason why our attempts to find Wally are failing."

Diana, Hal and Superman stared in complete shock, trying to get their heads around what Batman had just dropped on them. J'onn simply stared, as if it all made sense now. For a few minutes, there was more silence than when the machine had stopped. Finally, J'onn spoke.

"At least we have him now. Now, we are closer to finding Wally, and the Flash, than ever before."

Elsewhere

In his lonely hideout, surrounded by camera's of all sorts and brands, the Anchorman snarled. He'd lost communication with Clayface.

They'd be onto him soon.

* * *

**Hey guys!  
**

**Sorry that it's taken so long to post (again)...I'm just not too good at constantly uploading I guess haha!**

**Anywho, I've decided that I'm going to work in "seasons" in a sense, with each arc being one "season".**

**So this is, in a way, "season 1" - and I'm using it to build up to the main cause of season 2 (yes, I have an idea as to how I'm going to start and end season 2)**

**Anywho, thanks for reading and stuff. *Insert disclaimer here***

**Please review and follow and whatever! It would be much appreciated :3**

**-blueacidity**


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